LOS ANGELES -- Journalism free from government constraint just isn't for everybody. It certainly wasn't for Richard M. Nixon while he was president. Unrestrained investigative journalism of the Watergate variety ultimately pushed Congress in the direction of potential impeachment and shoved Nixon onto an exiting helicopter.
Nor is aggressive journalism necessarily appropriate for every country in every stage of development. Journalists need to be properly paid (so that they don't rely on bribes for income), and they require a professional education to reduce sensationalism and reporting errors. This certainly isn't for the People's Republic of China, which presently has in detention more journalists than anyone.
But, to tell the truth, for all its vaunted First Amendment independence and other virtues, free-for-all, free-from-all-accountability journalism sometimes isn't for me either. Though a longtime reporter and columnist, I find myself repelled by the crass commercialism and the dumbing-down of the U.S. news media.